Archive for June 2025

 Dear Neighbor, After months of council debate, 14 budget town halls, and five hours of public comment, we passed a budget that gets to work on our city’s biggest problems. That’s all thanks to you.    Nearly 300 people came out to have their voices heard, overwhelmingly speaking in support of pragmatic solutions to homelessness,…

Image by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images Some cities get it done. Abilene, TX focused on individual, by-name client management and tight cross-agency cooperation to bring their homeless neighbors off the streets and into care. Community Solutions reports. In 2019, Abilene, Texas announced that it reached functional zero for veteran homelessness. The city…

Charles Joseph Hullmandel, CC BY 4, via Wikimedia Commons If the cancel culture phenomenon is a snowball effect (starting with recruiting one coercive professor), how can we stop the snow in the first place? According to free speech advocates David Puelz and Elizabeth Weiss, it’ll take hiring centered on quality scholarship; high academic standards for…

Joseph Murray Ince (1806-1859) – The Great Court of Trinity College, Cambridge – 515482 – National Trust In the second part of our Opp Now exclusive conversation, UATX prof David Puelz and past Heterodox Academy fellow Elizabeth Weiss explain how “political correctness” and other ideological compulsions have long been around—but today’s climate against free speech…

Scrapped speeches. Ousted professors. Whole campuses biting their tongues. We discuss, below, how replacing scholarship with illegitimate advocacy has bolstered ideological discrimination—via recruitment, hiring, and internal pressures. An Opp Now exclusive with SJSU prof emeritus Elizabeth Weiss and University of Austin prof David Puelz. Opportunity Now: In your view, how and why does ideologically-driven cancel…

Photo by Cineluxe Postcards by Elle blog wonders if 21st century culture’s forgotten the value of boredom—silent contemplation of the mundane, subtle, and natural. Maybe it’s because we’re constantly bombarded with technological stimulation and comm’s, especially in Silicon Valley. Or that it’s become too easy to satisfy our every desire. But it’s time to bring…

Special Reports Most higher ed institutions require a hefty applicant package: essays, recommendations, grades, interviews, etc. But University of Austin prof and statistician David Puelz thinks biased local colleges might want to rethink that—he lays out some compelling data, below, including what one metric is likely the most valuable for admissions. An Opp Now exclusive.…

Image from RDNE Stock project When universities keep hiring ideological “mini-me’s” and pressure all other faculty to keep their mouths shut, discourse becomes toxic; faculty and their research grow out-of-touch; and students get unknowingly indoctrinated into the fold. An Opp Now exclusive. With SJSU prof emeritus Elizabeth Weiss and UATX prof David Puelz. Opportunity Now:…

Hello Neighbors,  Wishing you all a happy, healthy June and a happy Pride Month!    As we enter our final stretch of time together, I want to thank you for all your patience and partnership. Representing District 3 has been the honor and experience of a lifetime, but I’m not done yet and don’t plan…

Image by transitwiki Board members change, but the song remains the same at our troubled transit agency: government waste, mismanagement, and the creep of crony politics are the constant refrains. Athan Joshi reports for California Policy Center. The agency’s latest draft budget for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) projects a staggering $14.9 million deficit, ballooning from…